For context, and in case you don’t know, this Summer I founded the only badger group in Hampshire outside the New Forest and the only one in the county that’s a member group of Badger Trust. We’re currently focused on the North East of Hampshire but already looking to expand our activities right across the county. We need and would welcome more support from wildlife and environmental advocates living in and around the area to help us survey, monitor and protect the 800 or so sett locations we already know of and find more. In many cases, we have sett records dating back to the early 1970’s. Sadly, some of those setts are already doomed. Here’s why.
I wrote about this yesterday on our Group website and Facebook page and included the full Badger Trust press release from earlier this week addressing the 2022 badger cull numbers. I’m writing this specifically about the situation in Hampshire and so I can share the news here and on the Group’s other social media platforms.
At the end of October we learned that another 11 badger cull zones have been added to England in 2022, covering a land mass almost double the size of London, as the cull intensifies. Hampshire lost 578 badgers to the cull last year. The target for 2022 is a massive 1,586 (minimum 1,064) and we now know that culling started on 29th August despite Defra failing to publish details until last Friday evening. Why the deceit? Ask your local MP.
For the time being we at North East Hampshire Badger Group have decided to pause our participation in the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) “Southern Edge” bTB project. It involved us retrieving the carcasses of badgers killed on the roads in Hampshire and, following a strict protocol, submitting them to the APHA for bTB testing. We want to understand how the Hampshire cull target for 2022 has increased so dramatically when only 1 out of 74 badger carcasses submitted to the APHA from across the county has tested positive for bTB ( between August 2021 and September 2022). At the same time there’s been a 27.3% decrease in new bTB cattle herd breakdowns yet the number of badgers killed could be up to treble the 2021 number. We don’t understand how the new 1,586 target cull figure has been reached or how it can possibly be justified.
Yesterday we submitted a Freedom of Information request to the APHA asking how many of the 578 badgers culled last year were tested for bTB and how many tested positively for the disease. We’ve also asked what % of badgers culled in 2022 will be tested for bTB. The APHA has until 29th November to respond and we’ll share that information publicly before deciding if we want to continue our association with a Government agency that, along with Defra and Natural England, is complicit in the ongoing persecution of a protected, much-loved species.
In case you were wondering, Defra figures for the 12 months to June 2022 show that 185 bTB infected cattle were slaughtered in Hampshire. It’s tragic that 185 cows had to lose their lives because of bTB. It’s utterly appalling that 578 badgers were shot in the head under license by Defra/Natural England with seemingly no causal link to those cattle infections having been established. It will be unacceptable on any level if none of those 578 badger carcasses were tested for bTB and, if, based solely on 1 road-killed badger testing positive for bTB during the APHA project to date, up to 1,586 (and a minimum of 1,064) badgers are being shot under Government license in 2022. Remember, badgers are supposed to be a protected species in this country. Keep in mind that cattle farmers are compensated by the taxpayer for every cow lost to bTB. Where’s the compensation, or compassion, for the loss of wildlife? Reflect on the fact Defra, lobbied ferociously by farming representatives from outside and within, has implemented no mandatory bTB herd management or biosecurity requirements on cattle farmers.
As I write this, it feels unlikely we’ll continue supporting the APHA “Southern Edge” project. Frankly, the idea of assisting any agency complicit in the collation of the 2022 cull numbers is nauseating to me at the moment. Let’s see what the FOI request reveals though.
In the meantime, we need more boots on the ground across Hampshire. More folk happy to help and support us in our surveying, campaign work, monitoring of property development, reporting of wildlife crimes, checking and recording RTA victims and undertaking badger rescues. If you’re in the county, love wildlife and would like to help us please get in touch. You can do that through the “Contact” page on our website (link below) or through any of the social media channels linked to our “Home” page. Thank you.
https://www.northeasthampshirebadgergroup.com/
ecolelogical 